For Craig Hillās character Clayton, yes, itās a straight revenge story. However, what I find really interesting about āI Want Him Deadā is that by choosing to follow Clayton pursue his revenge, the film focuses around what would normally be a sidestory (or āB storyā) of the overall plot.
The main plot is about the villains and their attempt to circumvent the North/South peace deal. Problem is that these hired goons stopped off in a town, pissed off the wrong guy, and he keeps coming back to spoil their mission!
I canāt remember seeing another movie - outside of a comedy - where the character we follow has little to no knowledge or investment in the main plot (at least I donāt recall Clayton having any knowledge of the peace deal plot, correct me if Iām wrong). All he cares about is revenge and just so happens to save the union.
For that reason - in addition to fine direction, acting, and music - this movie a standout to me.
Very similar, actually quite funny scenes in this one.
But, why the president? Why not someone else who suits the few extras and the small size of the town?
Well, it does not make much sense to conceive films which need a bigger budget, if you donāt have that budget.
This movie has almost everything going for it. Direction, music, actors, locations, atmosphereā¦ This could be easily even 5/5 movie if it stayed on the track and the boring subplot did not take over the revenge plot.
It is not just that there are not enough extras, the whole idea that you put the revenge plot aside is just terrible. Letās be honest. Did anyone really care about the conspiracy plot? I surely did not. In this case less would be more.
On the Fabio Melelli interview on the Arrow Blu Ray, he states that āCarlos Arabiaā (writerās name) is an alias - no-one has heard of him - and that the real writer is probably Adriano Bolzoni, on the basis of a copy of the screenplay filed somewhere which is credited to Bolzoni. He also notes various censor cuts for an unrestricted rating which have been restored now (and I would agree with him).
I havenāt got through the directorās interview yet to see whether more light is shared on this.
After a rewatch, and now Iām sure it will be the last one, I lower my rating from a 5 to a 4/10.
Too much mediocre stuff in this one, an ok Spag for most of its runtime. It starts well enough but the story runs out of ideas too soon, and the ending is quite forgettable in every respect (but still unintentionally funny with the 10 extras army).